Trendy watch brand keeps the segment ticking with smart, NFC innovations

Fossil Group, Inc is a global company specialising in watches and lifestyle accessories including leather and jewellery goods. Johnson Verghese, MD, Fossil India, tells us, “The company started in India in 2007 and became operational in 2008. It has been a phenomenal run so far – with the launch of our first retail store in 2013. Today, we are also present in 160 department stores including Lifestyle, Shoppers Stop and The Collective. We are also present in several Multi Brand Outlets (MBO’s) and watch stores pan-India besides being on major e-commerce platforms. With respect to TN, we are placed in MBOs in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. In the e-commerce space, 43 per cent of business comes from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities outside of metros”

Watches are classified as mass, fashion and premium and the market size of the fashion watch segment is estimated to be worth about $300 mn annually in India. Fossil Group has a portfolio of many lifestyle brands under it such as Emporio Armani, DKNY and Diesel, apart from the Fossil brand.

Verghese goes on to say, “We are the market leader in the fashion watches space. Our target consumer is between the ages of 20-35, which is the young and working populace. We have three distinct watch categories under Fossil – traditional, smart and hybrid watches (traditional watches with smart features). While outside India, in the rest of the world, the sale of watches in the traditional category has been under some pressure, the smart watch category has been exploding globally and we have invested significantly in this space. Our next launch will be the Gen 4 smart watches which are set to hit the stores later this year. The new smart watches will be incorporating features such as NFC, which will help you with your payments as well.”